


Lavandula

by AkiNs



Series: Pleasant scent [1]
Category: Wiedźmin | The Witcher (Video Game), Wiedźmin | The Witcher - All Media Types, Wiedźmin | The Witcher Series - Andrzej Sapkowski
Genre: F/M, Hurt/Comfort, Monsters, Murder, Sexual Content, Slow Burn, Some Humor
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2017-10-06
Updated: 2018-10-19
Packaged: 2019-01-09 21:42:21
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 5
Words: 6,339
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/12284928
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/AkiNs/pseuds/AkiNs
Summary: No bees no honey, no work no money.That's why Eskel decides to take the contract. A contract that no one seems excited to be sorted out. But what is one expecting from a town filled with carefree scholars, with almost no experience what the real world is like?





	1. The Key

**Author's Note:**

> Hi, everybody... :) This story is my first attempt to write anything consistent in English. So I am sorry for any mistaker or weirdly shaped sentences... I tried my best. Well, I tried to try my best... And If anyone wants to be my BETA reader, I would be very grateful. :)  
> HOPE you will enjoy the story!!!

Chapter 1: The Key

Another day, another drowner. That's how it worked for him, his whole life. Oxenfurt had the same kind of a problem, but not with drowners. Another day, another dead body. Those bodies had just started to appear randomly two months ago. One by one. Sometimes the guard found more in one day, not that it made people care more.

Everything about this whole situation fell out of place. No fear came, sometimes someone would gossip in an inn. Another time, some woman would scream in the middle of a town square and exclaim that the monster would eat their kids. Not that any of these inhabitants would get any feedback.

The fear never came, not in a way a normal person would expect. The scholars didn't stop visiting their favourite inns and leave alone, intoxicated and right into the dark. The beggars didn't change their spots. And everyone trying to mourn for the lost or just felt something was wrong was silenced by the life of the city itself. Its life was unable to dim, so it dimmed the reasonable ones.

***

Her body was in an unspeakable state. The latest found body lay before him. He wasn't sure if calling the object before him "body" was appropriate. All the meat and bones were thrown onto this table with a visible intention for it to resemble the human shape. The Corpse before him belonged to a woman, that's what the mortician told him from the shape of her hip bones. And that she was young, but that he was able to say from her hair. Before what happened to her she must have had the most shining and smooth hair in whole Redania. It was beautiful even now, sitting like a golden crown on something resembling a head with smasher up face. 

He hoped he would find some lead on what was going on, but all the bodies were in a devastating state, such as this one. Eskel couldn't see any pattern that would tell him what exactly he was hunting. It looked like the monster didn't care who it killed or when it killed them. All victims were turned into mincemeat with missing organs, limbs and everything felt random. It could be anything.  
"Are you sure there is nothing more you can tell me about her?" Eskel asked while looking at the bloody rug covering her ankles.

The mortician did not pay attention to Eskel's observations, so he stood up from his table in the back of a morgue and came closer.

"She was a young woman. Student, probably."

Who is not in here. The witcher shook his head and looked at the mortician from up close. The old man seemed untouched by the state of the body before them, nor did he seem to be affected by the disgusting smell in the air. The smell of rotting flesh did not belong into Eskel´s list of scents he enjoyed smelling, his lifestyle showed to him, even more, grouse smell, yet the whole morgue reeked of death and iron and he couldn't wait to get to the fresh air.

The old man looking like death itself, probably waiting for some reaction, shook his head and pointed his focusing on the same spot Eskel was looking before. "Her whole body was wounded, but nothing is missing except for the lower half of her abdomen and ovaries. That's the second most interesting part that has been taken away from the victims." said the old man with a smile creeping onto his mouth.

So you have more expressions. "Why? Was one of them missing his manhood?"

"No, his rectum."

***

Time flows by differently when you are standing next to a river or any water in particular. Everything seems lighter and more colourful. Eskel hoped for any idea or lead on where exactly he should start and actually find something useful. Last night, he had tried to examine some places that seemed logical for a monster to be hiding, but nothing satisfying had come up. All of the victims were found in different places one close to the river - one in a back alley - one in a well. Maybe a ghoul, but the cemetery was clean. It was getting frustrating.

The sun was slowly making its way down on the sky, the shadows became longer and Eskel pulled a tiny object from his pocket. A key. A key engraved with the number 25 with a small emblem of the university attached to it, found in the girls closed fist. A key to a dorm room. She was a student, that much he knew. Now he knew where she lived, that was some start.

***

Finding the building was easy, the more challenging part was to convince the guardian grandma to let him in.

"If you think I will let some freak inside, you are terribly mistaken. This is a decent establishment, provided by the University itself. Not some whore-house!" The angry looking woman in her late fifties had a strong voice. Eskel was pretty sure that even people outside heard every word clearly, as if someone yelled them right into their ear, not just Eskel´s.

"I am just trying to find out who was the last victim. I do not intend to destroy the great reputation this institution has." His much quieter answer made her flame up even more. He should have had used Axii in the beginning.

Her wrinkly face twisted into an offended expression and Eskel realised he had underestimated her. He was very close to actually using the sign. "You think I am that stupid! I hear excuses like this every day. No. No. You are not getting past me." 

"I am a Witcher, not some hotheaded brat, lady. Someone died and I am here to make sure it won't happen again. If you really want the reputation to be spotless, you should reconsider letting me in and let me do my job." His voice was calm, so was his face, but his cat-like eyes burned into the woman, making her cast her glare aside.

"Just show me the list of the students living in here, the floor this room is in, and I will not bother you anymore. For today." Eskel added as he watched the old lady's face twitched in disagreement.

***

In the end, she let him enter the dorms. The halls felt confined, the wooden floor beneath his leather boots didn't make a sound as he passed by identical doors with different numbers on them.  
The sun was probably already down when he found the right room. The dorm-lady had pointed him to the general direction of this room, although she had not shown him the list. "The lists are stored in the university archives. For safety reasons." Of course, they were. Of course, they were.

Eskel inserted the key and opened the door. The first thing that got to him was the scent. 

The whole room was filled with lavender scent. Yet it did not come from the pot on the windowsill filled with blooming lavender or the scented candle next to one of the small wooden beds close  
to the door he was currently standing in. The scent existed on its own, and blew his attention away for a second.

On the other side of this plain looking room, behind her working table, Svetlana froze in shock at the sound of the door opening with such force. She knew it wasn't Viola, as all of her actions were  
gentle and slow. So she turned her head in the door's direction and her greyish eyes met eyes of an even more unusual colour.

It was not uncommon for some random guy to appear in their room, these were dorms and mistaking your room for a different one was easy when you were wasted and you lost count in the floors. But they usually looked like half unconscious human dummies, not like someone big as a mountain, standing straight with two, way too real looking swords and wearing an expression you were unable to tell anything from.

His face was marked with deep scars that made the “expression reading” almost impossible and Svetlana found herself scared of what might come. But if life had taught her anything it was this: Everything could be solved with a conversation. She just hoped that this man was open to it.


	2. Pot on the windowsill

How describe a feeling when you don't even know if you feel at all? How do you react to the news of the death of a someone, you cared deeply about? Should you start crying? Should you start screaming and demanding answers? Should you just stare blindly or pretend you just did not hear the words coming from a disfigured mouth of men still standing still in the open door?

Svetlana felt all at once and still, it felt like she was empty. No, Viola wasn't dead, that was impossible. She could still smell her perfume in within this room, like if she left just yesterday. Was it yesterday?  
When did Svetlana saw her for the last time? What day was even today? Who was that man standing in their room? Whats the scent trying to choke her? Why was everything so blurry? Was she crying? Where was she? Who made her feel all of this? When the world turned black?

***

Sha fainted.

Great.

Eskel quickly approached the lying body on the wooden floor. He did not tell her much but, enough for her to understand.

Brush on one of the nightstands beside the more distant bed was filled with blonde hair. This was definitely the victim's room. And if the little details weren't enough, the passed out girl was surely a big proof of that poor victim's identity.

The girl folded herself under her table. Eskel carefully kneeled by her side and secured her neck so she would not choke on her tongue. Her light brown hair covered most of her face. She was young not that young to be a first-year student, but certainly not old enough to have her title. She was covered, head to toe in a plain shirt and loose trousers, possibly her night attire.

Her eyelids slightly moved like she was having a bad dream. Eskel reached out into his pocket and pulled out a tiny glass and placed it under her nose. The horrific smell of the glasses insides did its job and coughing filled the till now deadly silent room. The girl quickly pushed Eskel away in shock. Her weak attempt to free herself from him felled like a punch of a weakling and even thought Eskel didn't intend to make her feel threatened he still wasn't sure that she was not injured and fully back to her senses. He needed some answers and getting them from someone with concussion never bearded the right fruit.

The world felt hazy. She did not recall how she ended up lying on the floor, neither the man being so close before. She knew one thing for sure: he was too close to her liking. She made another attempt to free herself from his grip, but without much success.

"Lie still, you may have injured yourself. I mean no harm to you." said the man with a deep voice that was maybe too flat and dull, hard to read just as his face.

Sometimes it´s even harder to remain calm when you are told to do so. That's what Svetlana experienced at this moment, so she putts more force into her limbs while trying to regain her freedom. And this time, the capturer is at least little affected, she feels his grip loosen for a moment just to tighten again.

"Who are you? What do you want from me?" The world doesn't make sense. Why is this man here? And why is she on the floor? And where is Viola?

_Viola. The scent of lavender. Cheerful laughter. Beautiful voice. Floating melodies. Caring hands. Delicate movements. Friendly spirit._

_Just the spirit now. Everywhere and nowhere just like the lavender odour coming from the pot on the windowsill. Just nothing._

"She is dead, right?" her view was suddenly drawn in watercolours again and the man's cat-like eyes were watching Svetlana filled with pity or empathy, she was not sure. Maybe she was projecting it onto him because his expression stayed the same for the whole time.

***

"She left the dorm two days ago. I think she wanted to meet with someone." the girl's voice was quiet and shaken. Her eyes sad and tired, with bags underneath. She was probably staying up all night and day before he came. Tears that fully dried made her look even more exhausted. Eskel almost felt bad for interrogating her. But time was commodity he did not possess the required amount.

"Do you have any idea who she wanted to meet with?" His eyes wandered around the room, looking for... something.

"I... I am not sure. Maybe Marius or Lotha, her classmates. They were working on a play together." Svetlana blew her nose into a handkerchief and winked few times to chase the tears away. Her nose, pulled up a little bit, wrinkled in her fight with the urge to cry.   
"You should be able to find them tomorrow in the university park in the noon. They are rehearsing there every day." her voice broke. It was time for Eskel to leave for now.

***  
The inn Eskel stayed in stunk of the river near it. Pontar river may have seemed beautiful in the paintings or while looking at it from shore, but this inn captured a whole new picture of Pontar. The smelly one. The inns' shield proclaimed that they are serving the best trouts in the city, considering the smell they stored them in here too. For way too long for them to be still fresh.

The darkness of the night surrounded the whole city already. Just the moon stayed to help the guard bring just some light into the murky corners and alleys.

Who knows where the beast was. Crawling in those shadows, waiting. Or somewhere else, or hidden at all, for everybody to see. Hopefully, those two kids that the gloomy girl told him about will have some answers.

Eskel rubbed his eyes and sighed.   
_I am tired._


	3. The Script

They say that it is the ones with Muses whispering into their ears are the loudest ones. Everyone in their own way. Some will sing for the masses, other will write down the words of the voices telling him their story and some may use the paint to make their voice be heard. For two young ones kissed by the Muse meant using their voice shouting at each other.

 

"No! You are getting it all wrong!" yelled a girl with long black hair tied in a braid. Her light complexion, whiter than ordinary, yet still spotted with red tones, how she gathered all her fury to prove to her friend that he was wrong, shining in the sun.

 

"Me? No, no, no. The one who is being wrong is you." person being yelled at did not intend to be defeated. And after filling his lungs with air finished his verse with a victorious smirk. "The heroine needs to express this feeling to survive the main act..." he said with confidence that would not embarrass any noble.

 

"This story is not about her. She is just a witness to all the horror." Lothas eyes rolled. This battle was just about to start.

 

Marius stood in defence position, carefully preparing his sharp tongue to strike. "She cannot be just a mere witness, her impact is so much greater!"

 

"Its all for the spectator to discover the connections, you can not just serve them everything on a silver plate." other students in the park did not seem to mind their fight. This city truly was perfect for students and their special needs.

 

"I am not serving anything to anyone. The relationship is the keystone to all of this!" the young man was straightening his back more and more with every sentence.

 

Still, Lotha did not slouch hers. Both fighting like beasts till the last breath. "Yes, a relationship is what this play is all about. But she is not a part of it."

 

"Then why is she there at all? The answer is simple: She loves him!"

 

"Just a bafoon would believe that! Love is the last thing she cares about."

 

"Then explain to me this... He threatens her, hurts her and whispers sweet nothings and she listens to all of it. It is a twisted love. but still, Love, Lotha."

 

"She is fascinated by him and his oddity, she wants to understand what drives him. But she does not love him."

  
"Even if she did, which she does not, it would still not be the main focus of. The. Story. Marius."

 

"Than what is this all about? Just about some sadistic lunatic hurting for fun?"

 

"Its a story about inner demons that everyone has and the connection he has with his own self. Whats so hard for you to understand?!"

 

They went on and on. Sun remaining high in the sky.

 

***

 

Eskel was walking toward the park the girl from earlier told him about. His worries about not finding those two she also mentioned were dismissed as soon as he was welcomed by loud conversation of two young people in multicoloured outfits. They were so hooked into their discussion that they did not seem to notice the tall figure of the witcher standing just a few feet away from them.

 

"Why are you attacking me like this? Calling me a moron when you did not write anything down in this play." the hair - so kept together to this moment- of a young poets head was ruined, sticking in every possible direction.

 

"I am here to point out the mistakes and discrepancies. And it looks like even by doing just that I am more useful than you are." Lohta redder than white at this moment, ready to strike her final attack pointed her dark deep brown eyes at Marius alongside with her final attack. "You did not write anything important either, all of this exists just because of Viola."

 

The park went silent. Eskel took his change and quickly approached the artists. His presence blew off all of the misunderstandings that existed before away into a land far, far away. Lotha backed behind Marius a little.

 

He was used to it. But being used to things does not mean you are on good terms with them.  
"Are you Lotha and Marius?"

 

"Yes, and you are?" answered Martius, visibly trying to look like a knight in a full armour.

 

"I am a Witcher. My name is Eskel. Something hunts in a dark here and unfortunately one of its victims was your friend Viola." his voice, calm like a river so close to them, his eyes focused on the two young students, his face stoic and cold like a marble - damaged one but still mighty.

 

"Viola is one of the victims? No, that's not right." whispered dark-haired girl, eyes cast down on the ground. Marius stared silent, just his eyes screamed silently.

 

"When was the last time you had seen her?" there was no time to waste more might be in a danger.

 

"We did not see her in a while, maybe for half a weak. But that was not unusual." Said after a while Lotha, not hidden behind Marius anymore.

 

Half a weak ago. So she did not meet with them the day she died. No lead here...

 

"Thank you for your time," said Eskel and turned around to leave. "Be careful in the streets..." he added half-facing them.

 

"She sent me a message. Two days ago." It was barely a whine but Eskel heard it clearly. Marius looked him in the eyes. His expression betraying him.

 

"She said she will have the play finished by the end of the week. That she just needs a little more inspiration." hurt danced in his voice like a butterfly in a wind. "She always went sit by the river when she needed a little push. Close to the main bridge." _Kill it_ , that's what was his voice saying now.

 

***

  
What is justice? Does that mean to make sure that the evil will be punished? Are the laws necessary for gaining the right thing? Thay are, right?

 

Then why are these norms made in a way that allows the skilled ones to find cracks and tunnels like the dwarves do with mountains? Why it is impossible to make them perfect?! Why is there  
always a chance that the culprit might get out of it?

 

If you seek justice - hire a witcher.

Is that the answer?

  
Someone wrote this phrase on the wall of one of the corridors in the law department. Why? Was the someone just sarcastic or bitter after failing his exams?

 

What kind of justice can Witcher bring? Isn't it raw and barbaric? Is that the right way? Is killing a monster justice for those already dead or just an act executed to protect the living? Justice is here to protect, to make things right. That's the theory. Does it still work like this? It must!

 

Then why the irony in the sentence written on the wall. In what way is the justice provided by the witchers different from the one that the law of the modern world can bring?

 

Witchers deal with monsters and beasts, layers with humans. Where is the connection am I missing?

 

Thoughts like this flew throw Svetlanas mind from the moment she had her eyes after a sleepless night. Her room felt oddly hollow, oddly silent. Just the lavender scent calming her troubled mind, reminding her why everything felt so wrong at the same time.

  
So she welcomed the fact that she was trapped in hers professors study instead.   
“You seem to not be fully concentrated at the work today Miss Slavnikovska." mumbled grey-haired man in a dark green robe.

 

Svetlana looked up from a work for her professor. She was spacing out. more than usual. Her inner questions ate up on her, making her dislike the silence.

"I am sorry, I am just not feeling too well today, Profesor Milik."

  
The old man shook his head and looked at all the files that needed to be organised.   
After a while, filled with his heavy breathing, he spoke. "I am not a brute, you can go now and finish it tomorrow."

 

"Thank you, Profesor." She was not sure that she was truly grateful. She stood up and packed up her bag.

 

"You can wait in the classroom for the sun to go down. It is really strong today." Stated Profesor Milik, hands full of the files.

 

"Its fine, I can use the tunnel. No sun there." 


	4. In the dark

The moon was smiling that night. Svetlana walked throw the main road of Oxenfurt, listened to all the happy cheers, drunk mumbling and lively music. The life was so everywhere that Svetlana got the feeling you could breathe it. After she returned from the university, into her room, she waited for the sun to go down. The night calms, listens, cools soreness.

She passed a group of young people and recognised Lothas deep dark eyes as this girl sadly smiled Svatlanas way.

As she was greeted more somehow familiar faces strong icy breeze stroke her back. Svetlana turned around just to face a dark alley, small space between two buildings, connecting the main road with the outskirts.   
Suddenly the cold alley looked even more black, deeper and more distant from the lights and cheers of the main road.

_Was Viola found in one of these? Unnoticed?_

The cold began to crawl into her bones. The fall was coming but this feeling got nothing to do with it. She started to feel dizzy, weak in the knees.

“Aren´t you brave one, Svetli. I saw Witcher at the University. It looks like someone finally put on a contract on your head.” she was forced out of her own head by a voice that would be pleasant to listen to, just If the owner of said voice would not be someone having a habit of treating her with no respect what so ever.

The ginger with no freckles stood behind her back with two friends standing next to him. Their faces were in mid-shadow but Svetlana did not need full light, to guess what they were up to.

“I am not sure if they will be able to pay him enough. I have heard that contracts on vampires are expensive ones.” as the taller friend started to play along gingers lines, Svetlana registered an annoying headache, slowly increasing. She was not in a mood for this.

Their words were not hurtful, she could laugh them off without thinking, but not today. Today she felt like her defence mechanisms were just not running at the highest rate.

“I must admit, I am impressed with your strong will not let me breathe freely in your company, and also fully disappointed with your inability to come out with a new joke after 2 years knowing each other. Richard."

"You are the only one still implying it is a joke."

Richard was a nice name, had a catchy ring to it. His voice was also quite enjoyable, his looks pleasant and his personality flawed. That's why Viola's slight fascination with him was in some odd way understandable yet irrational to Svetlana.

"And here I was, thinking we are all adults here," she replied.

Viola adored his company still, she refused to let go and be just his - to his displeasure. It was a strange dynamic but also almost natural state for Viola. She enjoyed those twists of fate, relationships with just enough drama in them as much as she loved implying them into her work.

She was light and magical as a fairy yet deadly as a dragon. Duality was in everything she did and she fancied the same in others.

All this said Richard was still just an ignorant bully in Svetlana's eyes. His behaviour without character as ever. The only difference was that now Svetlana felt actually hurt by his words and did not want to let them slide.

"You should be glad that your things did not magically destroy themselves, is that what why you don't wear just black. To not make it too obvious?" The provocation that was thrown at her by one of Richards friends felt strangely personal. What was this feeling?

"Some Nordlings like to hold grudges." Was it even a sore spot that they were hitting, or just an old scar? _I am Nordling too, never stopped._

"I never understood what Viola saw in you, Richard. And now, more than ever. Is this how you mourn?" She wanted him to feel awful and devastated by Viola's murder. And maybe he was hurt, the hurt hid deep down under all those layers and dualities.

"Cat caught your tongue?" Maybe the real emotion was lost in the chaos of other feelings he did not want to reveal but he was acting like an asshole and Svetlana did not have the time nor need to dig for something that might not even be there.

"Why should I be mourning? There are hundreds of girls like her. She was not-"

"Please, stop with this. Just for tonight. Act respectfully!"

And with that Svetlana turned on her heel, not giving him any other reaction or time to come up with some comeback, leaving him in the silence of cheerful laughs, lively music and in a company of two equally silent friends.

***

Why was everything in this city so complicated. It felt like he was running into dead ends. Each one deader than the last one. Everything was like a complicated philosophical question and he was just poor villager that is asked to explain the concept of being in the connection to the aspects of star singularities. More questions than answers. That was all he had got.

The place described by Marius was indeed a nice one. But the only things he found were two drowners and their footprints in the wet soil near the river bank. So, in conclusion, even if there were any evidence they were destroyed by those creatures. She was not killed by a drowner, yet they helped the real murderer by smashing everything around. _Where to look next?_ He had no idea.

Eskel calmly browsed the main road of Oxenfurt and felt at least a little bit better hearing all the life this city hid. His medallion calmly slept on his neck as if it was also listening to the lively cheers.

He recognised big braid of thick black hair - Lotha. She did not spot him, he did not care. Lotha had a troubled expression and quietly talked with a girl with the same look in her eyes. Close to them stood a group of young men holding cups filled with some alcoholic beverage. One of them noticed the witcher, studying him. Eskel paid no attention to him and kept walking, passing more and more intoxicated students, lovers and even some that ended their night way early.

Eskel was making his way back to the inn to rest and fill his empty stomach. The idea of trying the meal that gave a name to his current home was tempting. _How bad could that fish be?_

Considering how many places claimed that they are the ones with "the best" food, there was hope for this particular trout to be more than just edible.

His surroundings started to be less crowded as he left the main area.   
The music floating throw the air seemed to be far away and the night sky was filled with stars shining even stronger without all those lights on the main road.

As he turned right on one of the many turns in his way, a strange feminine figure chowed herself before him. When he walked closer, he recognised sweet lavender scent and at the same time who this person is.

"It's not safe to wander alone throw town in the dark, Miss."


	5. Starry Night

"It's not safe to wander alone throw town in the dark, Miss."  
The deep monotone voice made her turn in shock. The man behind her made no sound as he approached her - intentionally or not.

When Svetlana turned, Eskels eyes were calm as his expression hard to read. Her heartbeat stopped increasing its pace at the look on a face that wouldn't mean any harm to someone innocent. Right? 

"I beg the differ. By taking this road I am able to reduce the time I spend outside by more than an hour." Svetlana wisher her answer would sound more sovereign. 

"That's impressive..." Said the witcher with a little smile on his crocked lips "but this place is deserted, its a perfect hunting spot." The smirk disappeared as he wanted her to understand the seriousness of this situation. His eyes met hers and he knew his words got to her.

He was right, this street was not as crowded as the main road but that was one of the reasons she used this shortcut so often along with the time-saving reason. The night sky looked always more promising above streets like this one and Svetlana liked to wonder those sky paths, but maybe now wasn't the best time for that. Even tho every fibre in her body demanded it. She dropped her eyes to the ground and sighed. He is right. I should be more considerate.

Silence fell between them as they walked the street. 

"How is the investigation going?"  
This question was inevitable, yet Eskel wished she would not ask. He did not want to say to her that, he had nothing - but that was the truth.

"I am now a little stuck and I might be in need of your assistance."

"Really? With what, I will do anything to help." Svetlana kept her breathing as calm as she could, her expression relaxed and for some normal mortal, her self-control would be more than enough to trick that person but the man walking beside her was unfortunately far from that. He noticed the change in the rhythm of her heart, the moment her lungs took a break for a second, yet he kept it all to himself as a normal mortal would. Like nothing happened. 

"Marcus mentioned a place that Viola visited often. Its supposed to be on the riverside, but its hard to believe that young girl like her would fancy spending time in a place littered with drowners."

Her answer did not come as quickly as the last one she did not hide her shock and unease. His question brought out a memory and Eskel knew, he will get his lead given the time.

"It's quite hard to find that place on your own. It's also hard to describe the place to you, but I can take you there."

The flat tone of Svetlanas voice carried itself along with them on this abounded path, the night sky singing its unheard melody.

Eskel noticed how the light from one of the few open windows illuminated Svetlana's face - her eyes not sad, not happy either, nose with the tip a little bit up and the cheeks redder than rest of her face, lips pressed into a thin line.

The first time he saw Svetlana, she was filled with loss and grief - her face revealing it heavily. Now she seemed much calmer but still tense. Eskel watched shadow consume her features and wondered how her genuine smile looks like. 

Svetlanas answer may seem a little bit odd. Not really in the meaning but in the way she inhaled sharply - like if the answer itself could get her into trouble. All this considered, Eskel was still happy for any new lead given. 

"Thank you." 

Silence environed them, just the cracks of soles crushing the sand beneath their feet. 

Their steps fell into the same rhythm, sounding almost like one. That was the moment Svetlana felt the need to disturb this rhythm, to make some distraction so her mind would not wonder the forbidden path.   
"And where are you heading, Master Witcher?" 

"To the inn, I am staying at..." almost whispered the Witcher with his eyes searching in the dark. The Wolfs medallion still calmly spelt on his chest as he spotted Svetlana turning her heat at him so she could hear him better. 

"... to get dinner." finished Eskel his sentence with more power to his voice. 

"Oh... I see. Is it close?" Her eyes were kind, wandering his own, eager to know the answer. 

" Yes, It is the one with trout, what I have heard." At the mention of the cooked fish, he spotted her lips forming an almost mischievous smile. What was that for? 

"Why the look?" Eskel asked "jokily" hoping he read the situation right. 

"Nothing..." Her eyes seemed occupied as she focused on puzzling the answer in her head first. 

"... It's just... I didn't take you for someone who believes everything he hears. Isn't it important for someone of your profession to differentiate what's true and false? Just a myth from a reality?" 

"Are you suggesting that I should get something else?"

"I am not suggesting anything. I am just being curious." 

The conversation flowed smoothly, like a touch of a silk onto exposed skin. And then it ended as unexpectedly as it started, in front of the dorms main entrance. 

"May I count with your assistance, then?" Eskel asked as they stood in the moonlight and the light from few open windows. 

"Of course, can we meet here tomorrow after the sunset?"

"Yes, but wouldn't it be more convenient to meet when its light outside?" Another odd little thing he noticed in the course of this quick conversation. There were many things that were hard to read, not just the educational texts and it looked like this young lady may be on of them. 

"I am sorry, but I must insist. It will be much more simple for me to show you then." She was persistent in her demand and her eyes almost pleading him not to press harder.

So he let go - he will get his answers eventually.   
"As you wish then. Good night, Miss." 

"I am Svetlana." 

She was quiet, not sure if he had heard her. But Eskel did and for a second he didn't know what this new information means, then it enlightened him as the morning sunshine. "Svetlana, like "the light"?"

"Yeah..." Why all the unease in just one small word? 

"And your name, master witcher? It would not be polite of me to call you just by your profession title." Her eyes were lively again like just a few minutes ago while they were walking here. Wanting to know his name Svetlana laid her eyes on him to let him know she listens.

"My name is Eskel." 

"Nice to meet you, Eskel. Tomorrow then?" A big cloud covered the starry sky but Eskels eyes, untouched by the sudden loss of light, watched the brown-hair girl stepping from one leg to another. As if she needed to shake off her nervousness. 

"Yes, just after the sunset..." She cared about this factor so much it amazed him to some degree. But she looked more relaxed than just a moment before, which seemed like a good sign. 

"Thank you. And good night." 

"Good night." 

Svetlana waved at him before the doos closed, Eskel just nodded. The sky cleared itself from the clouds, painting his way to the inn with more enjoyable colours.   
The moon truly shines strongly tonight. 

***

Behind the close door, inside her half-empty dorm room, Svetlana refused to let herself fall into despair again so she focused on the fact, that to get to the "Delicious trout" you need to turn left 20 minutes before reaching the dorms.


End file.
